One thought on “What are these tiny eggplants?”

Hi Diggy, Thanks for writing. That looks like black nightshade, Solanum americanum or Solanum nigrum or one of the similar nightshade species. They are closely related (in the same genus) to eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes. You can see that the berries from Diggy’s photo look a bit like tiny eggplants. In fact, the eggplant (also called aubergine) that is eaten all over the world is a domesticated form of other nightshade species native to Africa and Asia. The leaves, vines and green berries of black nightshade can be poisonous, but as with eggplant, the ripe fruit of black nightshade is edible, and many people say the berries are delicious.

Don’t eat the berries if you aren’t sure what plant you have, however, or you ever have a bad reaction to eggplant or tomato. Belladona or “deadly nightshade” is also in the same plant family, and also has black berries, which are quite poisonous, so be careful. Tom

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The Question: We dug some post holes, and next morning they were filled in. We redug and again they were filled in overnight. On the third or fourth day I happened to be outside just as dawn broke and saw a badger filling in one of the post holes. Have you ever witnessed this or heard reports of this behavior from others?Submitted by: Lee, British Columbia, Canada

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The Question: In early June, I took a kayak trip on Winton Lake, starting out before sunrise and getting to the area where these photos were taken just as the sun was coming up. There were green bubbles all over the lake. After the sun came up, they began to break up and were gone within about an hour after sunrise. I’ve never seen anything like this on any lake I’ve ever paddled and I’m very curious what could cause it! Can you supply any answers?Submitted by: Mark, Ohio, USA